Suspect in Michigan synagogue attack had lost family in Israeli strike on Lebanon | Michigan
An armed suspect who drove a vehicle into the hallway of a large Michigan synagogue complex that includes a school lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike in his hometown of Lebanon last week, an official said Friday.
A possible mass shooting was averted when security guards on duty at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, on the outskirts of Detroit, killed the driver on Thursday afternoon, leaving no harm to synagogue staff, teachers and 140 children at the early childhood center there.
The suspect was later identified by authorities as 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, who was born in Lebanon and is a U.S. citizen.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which is conducting the investigation, described the attack on one of the country’s largest Reform synagogues as an act of violence targeting the Jewish community.
Ghazali came to the United States in 2011 on a family-related visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen and obtained U.S. citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the eastern Lebanon town of Mashgara on March 5, the Lebanese government agency and the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported. A woman was also injured.
Coinciding with US and Israeli attacks on Iran late last month, Israel once again began attacking its neighbor Lebanon in an attempt to eliminate Iranian-backed Hezbollah militancy.
The ongoing bombardment of Lebanon marked a significant escalation in Israel’s growing offensive there after Hezbollah launched missiles and drones at Israel in early March in retaliation for attacks on Iran as the conflict rapidly escalated and expanded.
A local official in Meshgara, central Lebanon, told The Associated Press on Friday that Ghazali’s two brothers and a nephew and niece were killed in an airstrike on their home just after sunset while they were eating iftar during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The official, who requested anonymity because he could not disclose the details of the airstrike to the public, told the AP that Kassim and Ibrahim Ghazali, as well as Ibrahim Ghazali’s children Ali and Fatima, were also killed. The official said that Ibrahim Ghazali’s wife was seriously injured and remained in the hospital.
The official said Qasim Ghazali was a well-known football coach and personal trainer, while Ibrahim was a school bus driver in the village. The official added that Ayman Ghazali’s father is in the United States and recently returned to Lebanon.
The incident that took place at a Michigan synagogue on Thursday resulted in the vehicle driven by the suspect catching fire and black smoke was seen rising from the building.
Local Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said a security guard was struck by the vehicle and lost consciousness but did not suffer life-threatening injuries. 30 law enforcement officers affected by the smoke were also treated.
Cassi Cohen, Temple Israel’s director of strategic development, was in the hallway where the accident occurred. Explaining that she heard a loud explosion, the woman said that she grabbed a few staff, ran to her office and locked the door.
“When I heard about the accident, I knew it was bad,” Cohen said.
He said the accident occurred near a classroom and that there were more than 30 staff members in the synagogue in addition to the children.
Rabbi Arianna Gordon of Temple Israel thanked her security team, law enforcement and early childhood teachers for getting the children out safely and reuniting them with their parents amid the chaos and fear.
Immediately after authorities evacuated the building, about a dozen parents rushed to get their children. Other families reunited at a nearby Jewish Community Center.
Allison Jacobs, whose 18-month-old daughter is enrolled in Temple Israel’s day care, said that before she knew what was happening, she received a text from a teacher saying the children were okay.
“There are no words. I was in complete and utter shock,” he said.
Synagogues around the world have been on edge, further increasing security, since the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran with missile strikes on February 28.
Donald Trump said on Thursday: “It’s incredible that things like this happen” and called the Michigan shooting “a terrible thing.”
But Detroit Jewish Federation CEO Steven Ingber said: “I’d like to say I’m shocked, surprised, but I’m not.”
Oakland County is Michigan’s second largest county, with a population of approximately 1.3 million. The majority of Jewish residents in the Detroit area live there. Temple Israel has 12,000 members, according to its website.
At a similar time to the synagogue attack, a gunman killed one person and injured two others at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
This incident could have resulted in more carnage as the suspect opened fire on a classroom of cadets undergoing military training at the Reserve Officer Training Corps, a university-based program, only to be subdued and killed by some of the cadets.
The suspect was later identified by authorities as Mohamed Jalloh, a former member of the national guard who pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State. Authorities said he shouted the Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar,” meaning Allah is greatest or God is great, and the FBI was investigating the attack as an alleged act of terrorism.
